


Third Period

by brookwrites



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: AU, Amazingphil - Freeform, Dan Howell - Freeform, Daniel Howell - Freeform, Fluff, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Phan AU, Phan Fluff, Phanfiction, Phil Lester - Freeform, Student!Dan, Teacher!Phil, danisnotonfire - Freeform, dap, dnp, phanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 01:15:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13283847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brookwrites/pseuds/brookwrites
Summary: At first, when Dan arrived in Phil’s third period sociology class, the two bickered, but spite eventually turned to love, and the two ended up spending lunch together occasionally. But when another student found the two of them together, they were forced to defend themselves not only for the sake of their relationship, but for the sake of both their futures.





	Third Period

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Mentions of homophobia and swearing

Dan lived for third period every day. It was honestly the only reason he bothered to come back to that hell school. He was a senior, and he was already 18. In his opinion, he should be able to do whatever he wanted. Besides, he already had all his credits to graduate. He was accepted into the University of Manchester too. There was no reason for him to be there, except for third period. 

He showed up to third period the first day the same snotty, done-with-school senior he still was in every other class, sliding into the back row and putting his black Converse up on the desk. He didn’t know why he was taking sociology anyway; it wasn’t like he wanted to learn about how people worked. Maybe he just registered it as the only place in the school he could sit around for an hour and a half talking about gender and sexuality. Maybe he just didn’t have any other classes to take. Either way, there he was, bored out of his mind. Until he saw the teacher. 

Five seconds before the bell rang, in from lunch walked a tall, ebony-haired man with stylish yet simple glasses, beaming from ear to ear. “Hi, I’m Mr. Lester.” 

Dan tuned out for his beginning-of-year spiel, instead admiring his features. Throughout his thought process, the one thing that lingered in his mind was how completely legal that would actually be. 

“Mr. Lester”, or Phil, as Dan’s schedule specified his name to be, then began the students’ forced introductions. “Tell me your name and grade,” he said coolly before starting on the front row. Dan, again, paid no attention to the classmates he’d already known for four years and instead focused on Phil’s swift movements around the classroom as he spoke to each individual student until finally he was in front of Dan. “And you, boy who very disrespectfully has his feet up on my desk?” He smiled, and Dan took his feet down, grinning back. 

“Dan. Senior. 18. Charmed.” He took Phil’s hand and shook it, receiving a glare in return. However, he couldn’t help but notice the little smirk on the teacher’s face as he stated his age.

“As am I.” 

The rest of September consisted of nothing more than Dan doing his work in half the allotted time and then turning to Phil’s desk directly behind him and conversing with him. The two usually simply talked back and forth as if they were in direct competition for who was the rudest, but there was a layer of compassion underneath that. However, it wasn’t until their unit on sexuality that they finally struck it. 

Dan finished his vocabulary in five minutes; to be fair, he’d practically lived it. “Man, this is easy. You can find all of these words just in me.” 

“Dan, heterosexual and homosexual are both on this list.” 

“And so is bisexual.” 

“Touche.” Phil paused for a moment, deciding to allow himself to say the first phrase that came into his mind. “In that case, I must agree with your assessment. Except maybe I’d take off the asexual part.” 

“Ah, yes, as would I. If I was ace, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion.” 

“Did we just come out?” Phil asked himself more than Dan.

“I think we did.”

“Deep.”

“Agreed.”

There was an awkward silence between the two for a moment before Phil finally spoke.

“Does that make us friends?” 

“If that’s what you take this entire thing as.” 

“What do you think it is?” Dan responded to Phil’s question with nothing more than a suggestive stare, which Phil immediately returned. “Oh, but I couldn’t,” he said sarcastically. “Not with a student.”

“Meet you here tomorrow for lunch?” 

“Sounds great.”

Third period was Phil’s daily motivator. Ever since he’d met Dan, his life became so much brighter. They’d mess around a lot, but Phil really did love him, and he knew Dan felt the same way. It was a bit of an odd situation, having to hide their relationship from everyone, but they were used to it by that point. It was simply a part of the life they chose to live together.

Dan walked in shortly after the lunch bell rang that day, and Phil greeted his boyfriend with a smile. He loved when Dan came in early for lunch. It didn’t happen often, as they didn’t want to raise suspicion, but it was like another half hour added onto third period for him, and that was beautiful. “How was your morning?”

“Shit.”

“Test?” Phil asked as Dan threw his backpack on the ground and took a seat on his desk. 

“Yeah. But also homophobes.”

“Ah. We do seem to have a lot of those around here. It’s a bit concerning.” 

“Yeah, I wish people would show a bit more support. We may need it someday.” Dan stared at his feet for a moment, seemingly thinking about his own comment, before finally deciding to change the subject. “Speaking of test, don’t we have one in here today?” 

“Yeah. You didn’t study, did you?” 

“Do I ever?” 

“No, but you’re smart enough to pass any test I write.”

A smirk crossed Dan’s face as he leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Phil’s neck. “Or maybe I’m just getting some extra credit.” 

Phil chuckled, moving his nose to meet Dan’s. “Like I’m giving you any extra credit. But that doesn’t mean we can’t both reap the benefits.” 

“You’re the cheesiest person I’ve ever met, you know that?” Dan smiled, and Phil saw Dan’s dark brown eyes meet his colorful blue-greens. “But I love you anyway.” 

“I love you too.” And then their lips collided, pulling them together into a passionate scene from which nothing could distract them. The world around them completely dissolved until it was just the two of them, floating in empty space, eternally connected. Phil gasped as Dan’s tongue slipped into his mouth, letting his hands ruffle the boy’s dark, curly hair. After a moment, Dan moved to plant soft kisses down Phil’s neck, each one sending sensations through Phil’s body. Phil pushed back on him, pinning him to his own desk. Papers went flying as if it was a classic movie scene, but there was nothing classic about it. It was just them. Phil climbed on top of Dan and leaned down, again connecting both their mouths and their private world. However, it was then that their entire world was shattered in front of them with the simple creak of a door opening. 

It was then that they heard the innocent gasp of a schoolgirl arrived probably simply to ask a question about the upcoming test. It was then that she turned and ran away without a word. It was then that the door slammed behind her, and it was then that all went silent. It was then that the sound of the door rang in their ears as they each slumped against the floor on separate sides of the desk and put their heads in their hands. It was then that they realized how badly they’d fucked up. 

Third period that day was Dan’s worst nightmare. It felt like every stare in the world was on him in his back row seat. The elephant in the room really took up more space than the room even had in Dan’s mind. They all knew, and Dan and Phil both knew that they all knew. They knew that they knew that they knew, and the train went on and on in Dan’s head like a terrible bit in a comedy show. Yet, despite the full knowledge in the room, still nobody mentioned it, and to Dan that was almost the worst pain of all. 

Phil dispersed the aforementioned tests and sat in the back of the room, letting the silence devour the room. It was a test, so it was supposed to be quiet, but that didn’t keep it from being awkward in Dan’s mind. He knew nobody was thinking about the test; everyone was more concerned with the next development in the most interesting scandal their school had ever seen. 

And they got front row seats for it when the phone rang halfway through the period. Dan’s back went stiff against the seat, his eyes widening as he braced for the worst. “Hello? Yes, Mr. Allen.” It was the principal. Dan tried to calm his breathing so it wouldn’t stand out in the silence. “Yes,” Phil sighed through the phone. “Yes, it’s true.” A few soft gasps rang out across the room. “Yes, I have fourth period planning. I’ll bring him with me. See you then.” The phone was back on the receiver, and the eyes of twenty children were on them both. “Back to work!” Phil said, a bit of annoyance lacing his voice. All the students turned around to their tests, but Dan still stared into Phil’s eyes. All he did was mouth the words “after class”. 

The bell rang and the rest of the students slowly dispersed from the classroom, most of them shooting looks at Dan and Phil as they left. Some were disgusted, some were sympathetic, and some may even have seemed a bit supportive. When the last of them had left, Phil took Dan’s hand. Dan looked up at him questioningly. Phil picked up on the look, responding simply with, “No use hiding it now.” Dan shrugged and the two stepped out into the hall, hands still linked. 

“Dan, why’d you do it?” The obviously displeased principal sat across the desk from Dan, having forced Phil out of the room. He assumed that meant they’d be going separately, and Phil would be next. “Your records show you as a very good student. Was it for the grades? Were you forced?” 

“No!” Dan shouted. “He didn’t make me do anything, and I’m honestly quite offended that you’d even imply that he did. I was kissing him because I love him and for no other reason. That’s the end of that discussion.”

“You know this is a serious offence-”

“And you’re a serious douchebag.” 

“Dan-”

“Listen, Allen. I’m not trying to be disrespectful here, and I know I have been, and I’m sorry, but the bottom line is that I love Phil Lester and he loves me. That’s all you need to know. May I go now?” 

He sighed, standing up and opening the door for Dan. It was Phil’s turn.

“I wouldn’t have expected this from you, Phil.” The principal folded his hands on his desk as he talked to Phil. “I’m honestly a bit disappointed. You know our kind already doesn’t have the best reputation in this school. You’ve only made it worse.”

“I know, I know...But I seriously care for him. That’s the only reason I did it. I really think he might be right for me. It’s an odd place to find love, but he’s only five years younger than me and he’s eighteen and-” 

“Yes, I already heard this entire spiel from him. I’m glad you’ve found someone, but you know what I have to do, Phil.” 

Phil bit his lip, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “Yeah, I know.” 

It was only a minute after he left that Dan was brought back into the office, and that flat out terrified him. “Dan,” said the principal, a somber look on his face. Dan instead turned to Phil, who seemed to be bearing a weak smile. “We’ve come to a conclusion as to what will happen here.” He paused for a moment, allowing Dan to swallow up the silence. 

“And?!” 

“You’ll both be leaving the school.” 

“What? No! I won’t stand for that!” 

“Dan-” Phil tried to interject. 

“You’re okay with this?” 

“There’s really no other option.” 

“No other option? There’s thousands of other, better options than both of us getting kicked out! It’s probably just because this asshole is a homophobe!” Dan yelled, leaning onto the desk. 

“Dan-” 

“Open your mind, you fucking redneck!”

“Dan!” 

“Phil, come on! It was just this morning that we were talking about how we may need support from these people someday, and now that we do you’re just going to stand around doing nothing? We have to stand up for ourselves!”

“DAN!” 

“WHAT?” 

“He’s gay, Dan.” 

“What?” Dan turned to the principal who gave an annoyed smile and wave. “Oh. Oh, uh...Sorry...” Dan’s face was beet red, but soon turned to a questioning look. “Wait. If you’re gay, why are you still being so rough on us?” 

“It’s not like I have much of a choice. If I didn’t, those rednecks you were talking about a while ago would have my head. And not in the good way.” None of the three could help but snicker at that, but the conversation returned almost immediately afterwards to its serious tone. “I’d love to help you, but there’s not much I can do.” 

“Wait,” Dan said, crossing his arms coolly and leaning against the wall. “What if we could prove to you that the student body wants us to stay? Then can we?” 

Dan watched as Phil and the principal made eye contact, both of them seeming a bit confused by Dan’s scheme. “As far as I’m concerned, sure. Why not? I can’t guarantee you protection from the school board or the parents, but I’ll stand behind you if you can get a majority of the students in this school to do the same. Next Friday is our last day until winter break. You two can stay until then. Friday, show me what you’ve got. Deal?”

Dan smirked, his devious mind already swimming with ideas. “Deal.” 

It was third period on Thursday, and Phil was a bit concerned. He hadn’t spoken to Dan for the last week; he’d been too busy dealing with the aftermath of the situation they were currently engulfed in. He’d heard about a petition Dan was bringing around, but he had no clue how it was doing, and they only had one day to save their places in the school. 

Dan walked in looking exhausted that day. His forehead was covered in sweat and his hair was tousled, which was odd considering that it was winter and Dan never did exercise. “Dan, are you okay? You look...tired.”

“Yeah,” he panted. “Thanks. I’ve been running this petition around for the last half hour.” He handed the clipboard over to Phil, who scanned it and saw only 200 signatures. 

“Dan, there’s 850 students in this school! That’s nowhere near enough!”

“Oh, I know. That’s why I have a backup plan.” 

“Oh no,” Phil sighed. Just from the look on Dan’s face, he could tell this backup plan couldn’t be good.

Dan smirked, determination the driving factor on his weary face. “Tomorrow. Third period. We walk out. And every name on this list is going with us.” 

“Dan, that’s ridiculous! That’s nowhere near enough people! Besides, half of them will just go to get out of class.” 

“Exactly. They’ll be drawn out just so they don’t have to go to class, but nobody will know the difference. We can win this, but not unless you tell some of your teacher friends. But only the ones who you know we can trust to come and not spill the beans.” 

“Dan, there’s no way-”

“Phil, you have to trust me on this, please. It’s our only chance. Just trust me,” he said, taking Phil’s hands. Phil stared down at his hands in Dan’s before looking back up and meeting his chestnut eyes. 

Phil couldn’t believe he was about to agree to this. It probably didn’t even have a chance of working, but Dan was right when he said they were out of options. It wasn’t like they could make it any worse. “Third period tomorrow?” 

“Third period tomorrow.” 

It was late in lunch Friday when Dan walked in, draped in a huge gay flag. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Phil said.

“Nope,” Dan said, throwing his heavy backpack on the ground and unzipping it to reveal countless rainbows. He pulled out another humongous flag and tossed it to Phil. “And you get one too.” 

“Thanks,” he sighed, setting it behind his desk. “What else have you got in there?” 

“A few smaller flags, a megaphone I borrowed from the band director, and a few protest signs to hand out, although I’ve got a lot of kids bringing their own.” 

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Phil said. 

Dan smiled, walking over and taking his hand. “I know it’s crazy. I’m as scared as you are, guaranteed. But we can do this. We’ve got an unbelievable number of people on our side. There’s no way we can lose.” He leaned forward and gave Phil a peck, sending brief sparks through his body. “We can do this.” 

Phil smiled at him, seemingly having gained some confidence. “We can do this.” It was then that the bell rang and students started flowing in. Dan took his seat, shoving his flag in his backpack. The next few moments were probably the slowest of Dan’s life, waiting impatiently for the tardy bell to ring. When it finally did, he pulled the flag from his backpack and tied it around his neck almost like a cape. He stood up smiling, feeling almost like a superhero. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, stepping in front of the class.

“Hi. I’m sure you all know me as the kid who’s dating the teacher,” he said, gesturing to Phil, who blushed and waved as the students turned their heads. “Get up here, you idiot!” Phil scrambled from his seat, grabbing the flag Dan gave him, and made his way up to stand beside Dan. “Anyway, we’re ind danger of getting kicked out of school for that whole thing, even though we’re in a totally consensual adult relationship. So, we’re about to stage a protest if you wanna come.” 

“Gets you out of class!” Phil chimed in. Everyone was out of their seats. 

Phil still had no clue why they were doing this. Nobody in their right minds would take it seriously in the real world, yet he and Dan stood up in their fantasy and walked out anyway. It probably didn’t even have a chance of working, but Dan was right when he said they were out of options. It wasn’t like they could make it any worse. Dan handed some of the students his little flags and pulled out the megaphone, turning it on and taking Phil’s hand at the classroom doorway. “Are you ready?” he said, turning to Phil. His facial expression was purely empowered. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” 

And then they stepped out.

The entire experience seemed surreal to Phil. He never really expected to walk down the halls of the school draped in a gay flag while hand in hand with his 18-year-old boyfriend who also happened to be his student, who was screaming random, typical protest phrases into a megaphone. It couldn’t be real. He couldn’t have gotten himself into something this utterly stupid. Yet it was, and yet he did. So he put on his brave face and marched down that damn hall. 

Dan’s yelling quickly attracted attention from each room they passed, and the crowd of their sociology class quickly grew to contain all different kinds of students. Senior stood by freshman, girl by boy, white by black, and gay by straight. To Phil, even if it didn’t save his job, it was beautiful. 

Like Phil, some teachers brought their entire classes, and some took the few willing students and abandoned the rest. Some stayed behind and scoffed, but more than he expected came out. It was insane; he didn’t know that many of his colleagues supported him like that. Insane, definitely, but also heartwarming. 

After the parade made their way through the school’s measly three halls, it settled outside the lobby, where Dan handed out more flags and signs. Phil glanced around and couldn’t help but crack a smile. At least half the school had to be there. Was it possible that they could have done it? “Alright people, let’s settle down. We’re going to be here for a while,” Dan called out through the megaphone. Maybe not. 

Dan kept his megaphone held high throughout the entire protest. He found a courtyard bench to stand on, and from then on he had command. “We will not give up! We will not give in! We will not meet demands! This school can’t function without us! They have to listen!” As he finished his strand of phrases, he held the megaphone away from his face and beamed. He was basically living his childhood fantasy. 

About half an hour into their protest, some of the students remaining in class were released for lunch. Dan was thankful he had the early lunch period so he wasn’t missing it. 

He knew these were mostly the people who flat out refused to join their protest earlier, but he attempted to recruit them anyway. “These are the people we need to convince! These are the people we’re protesting! Go! Protest!” Suddenly the signs were up against the doors and the yelling began. Many simply beat on the doors, but a few had the courage to actually enter the school and start talking to people. Some even took off down the hall towards the cafeteria. Dan was proud. He honestly had no clue how any of this happened; nobody did. But all that mattered was that it did. 

And that’s when the principal appeared. Dan watched him take one glance out the door and widen his eyes, taking off down the hallway. “He can’t run from us!” he yelled through the megaphone. A few moments later, he appeared out from the side door. Apparently he just decided not to fight through the front door.  
“Stop this, please!” he yelled. 

“Why should we?” Dan felt powerful as his voice rang twice as loud as the principal’s because of his megaphone. 

“You two have obviously proved that the school wants you here; you can stay. Just don’t let this out into the press! Forget the rednecks, the superintendent will have my head if he hears about this!”  
“We win?” 

“You win.” 

“Everyone, back to class,” Dan said through the megaphone before turning it off and setting it down. The next phrase he spoke was directed only to Phil. “We won.” Dan jumped off the bench and into Phil’s arms, letting the warmth of his embrace envelop him. “We won.” 

Phil watched the news carefully over the break. It seemed a miracle to him that word never got out about the protest. He expected their victory to be a minor one; he assumed the press would find out despite the principal’s wishes and suddenly they’d be fighting the entire community. Instead, he peacefully texted Dan over the holidays as he spent them with his family. It was surreal to him. The last month or so had been completely surreal to him. He’d fallen in love with a student, allowed the entire school to find out, literally fought everyone, and somehow managed to keep his job. If anything, when Dan walked in the first day back from break, it made him love third period more than ever.

**Author's Note:**

> If any of you guys are phanfic writers and have Tumblr, check out the blog @strugglingphanficwriterscontest for a bit of a publicity boost! Your works can be on any platform, including Ao3; you just need to have a Tumblr blog. Check it out!


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